Gigi Hadid recently came under fire from fans for not knowing her boyfriend Zayn Malik's real ethnicity. The model claimed the singer was "half-Middle Eastern" in an interview during her recent visit to Dubai.
Hadid, who is of Palestinian and Dutch descent, made the blunder during an interview with Gulf News. "My boyfriend is also half Middle Eastern," the 21-year-old said when asked while on the subject of her father Mohamed Hadid's Palestinian ethnicity. "It's just a connection that you make that's really cool."
The issue with Hadid's statement, as the publication mentioned, was that the former One Direction member's father, Yaser Malik is a British-Pakistani while his mother, Tricia, is British with Irish roots. Fans also wasted no time in pointing out the slip-up on social media.
Many of them took to Twitter to criticize Hadid for not knowing the geographical difference. The Middle East is made up of Western Asia and Egypt whereas Pakistan is located in Southern Asia.
Gigi, who is the daughter of model Yolanda Hadid and sister of Bella Hadid, has been dating Zayn, 23, since the beginning of this year after the musician split up with ex-fiancée and Little Mix star Perrie Edwards, according to The Sun.
The couple made their red carpet debut as a couple at the Met Gala in May. Although their relationship reportedly went through a bit of a rough patch in the summer, things are getting serious between the pair. Zayn also recently revealed that he relocated to the US in order to spend more time with his ladylove.
More details on Gigi's gaffe in the video below: